{"id":207379,"date":"2016-04-17T08:53:36","date_gmt":"2016-04-17T08:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=207379"},"modified":"2016-04-17T08:53:36","modified_gmt":"2016-04-17T08:53:36","slug":"epl-preview-leaders-leicester-host-6th-placed-west-ham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=207379","title":{"rendered":"EPL Preview: Leaders Leicester host 6th-placed West Ham"},"content":{"rendered":"

Premier League leaders Leicester have a fully-fit squad to face West Ham at the King Power Stadium.<\/p>\n

The Foxes have named the same starting line-up in 11 of their last 13 games and could do so again on Sunday.<\/p>\n

West Ham will be without forward Diafra Sakho for a third match because of a knee injury.<\/p>\n

Defenders Winston Reid and Sam Byram are available after missing\u00a0Wednesday’s FA Cup defeat. Byram was cup-tied while Reid had a tight hamstring.<\/p>\n

<\/b>Steve Wilson:<\/b> “The sight of Claudio Ranieri holding back tears after his side’s win at Sunderland last Sunday was one of the images of the season – delightful and touching.<\/p>\n

“Ranieri may still be talking about fantasies, but the rock solid adherence of his players to the principles of teamwork look set to turn those sweet dreams into solid silver.<\/p>\n

“West Ham will be smarting from their FA Cup exit. Leicester would be right to be wary of Slaven Bilic’s excellent side – but just three more wins seal the title.<\/p>\n

“If they can make a film about Eddie the Eagle it’s hardly surprising that someone is preparing a script about Jamie Vardy.<\/i> 20th Century Fox would be the obvious choice.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

West Ham manager Slaven Bilic: <\/b>“People recognise we are having a good season, we are playing good football, and they are praising us. But what Leicester have done puts our successful season a little bit in the shadows.<\/p>\n

“That’s normal. It’s like a fairytale and they deserve all the credit they are getting. It is unbelievable.”<\/p>\n

Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri: <\/b>“We’ve made a good story, but to make something you will remember in 30 or 40 years we have to win. We don’t achieve anything yet. We have to fight to achieve the Champions League.<\/p>\n

“Football is very strange. If you weren’t here in Leicester but somewhere else, maybe City or United, with seven points more, you would say ‘it is finished’. At this moment you don’t think this. Why? Because we are Leicester. We have to fight and we have to be focused and strong.”<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Leicester<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

MATCH FACTS<\/h2>\n

Head-to-head<\/b><\/p>\n

    \n
  • Leicester have won the last three meetings in all competitions by a 2-1 scoreline.<\/li>\n
  • Andy King has scored the winner with four minutes remaining in two of those three games.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Leicester City<\/b><\/p>\n

      \n
    • Leicester could win six consecutive top-flight matches for only the second time. They previously did so in March 1963 on their way to a club record seven wins in a row.<\/li>\n
    • Victory against West Ham would give Leicester an outright top-flight club record of 22 victories in a season.<\/li>\n
    • Eleven of Leicester’s 14 clean sheets have come in their last 15 league matches.<\/li>\n
    • They have kept a top flight club record of five consecutive clean sheets, as well as seven in their last eight home league matches.<\/li>\n
    • Jamie Vardy has 21 league goals this season. He is the first Leicester player to pass 20 in the top flight since Gary Lineker in 1984-85.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      West Ham<\/b><\/p>\n

        \n
      • West Ham have lost just four of their last 16 Premier League away games (W6, D6, L4).<\/li>\n
      • However, they have only won one of their last five (D2, L2).<\/li>\n
      • Their last league clean sheet away from home came on 20 December against Swansea.<\/li>\n
      • Dimitri Payet has been involved in seven goals (four assists, three goals) in his last seven league games.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        –<\/p>\n

        Source: BBC Sport<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Premier League leaders Leicester have a fully-fit squad to face West Ham at the King Power Stadium. The Foxes have named the same starting line-up in 11 of their last 13 games and could do so again on Sunday. West Ham will be without forward Diafra Sakho for a third match because of a knee […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":207380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[142],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-207379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=207379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/207380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=207379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=207379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=207379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}